The present invention relates to a mounting structure of a rotating bezel and a watch using the same, and more particularly, to a mounting structure of a rotating bezel which is preferable when it is employed by a wrist watch with a rotating bezel.
Conventionally, wrist watches and the like are arranged such that an annular rotating bezel is rotatably mounted around the display section of a watch case as a main body so that a period of time passed from a certain time, and the like can be easily found by the relationship between hands in the display section and a bezel display such as gradations or the like drawn on the surface of the rotating bezel. In particular, rotating bezels which also serve as exterior designs are often used in diver""s watches, sport watches and the like.
FIG. 9 shows an enlarged sectional view of a typical example of this type of a wrist watch. As shown in the figure, a glass fixing ring 11 is screwed on a watch case (barrel) 10 in this example, and a cover glass 12 is fixed to the inner periphery of the watch case 10 through a packing 13. The cover glass 12 is held by the glass fixing ring 11. A ring-shaped rotating bezel 15 is engaged with the outer peripheral surface of the glass fixing ring 11 and rotatably held thereby through a rubber packing 16.
A holding rib 11a, which annularly extends, is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the glass fixing ring 11, and an annular engaging rib 15a, which is formed so as to correspond to the holding rib 11a, is disposed on the inner peripheral surface of the rotating bezel 15. The glass fixing ring 11 and the rotating bezel 15 are ordinarily composed of a metal such as stainless steel, titanium alloy and the like. The engaging rib 15a of the rotating bezel 15 and the holding rib 11a of the glass fixing ring 11 are temporarily deformed by pressing the rotating bezel 15 against the glass fixing ring 11 so that the rotating bezel 15 is fitted to and mounted on the watch case 10. Many of rotating bezels are also abutted against the outer peripheral surface of the watch case so that the easily rotating property thereof to the watch case 10 is guaranteed by an insert member 17 such as a leaf spring, a bezel sheet or the like.
Note that while the above example shows the mounting structure of the rotating bezel in the case body of a one-piece type wrist watch, there is case in which the rotating bezel is directly mounted on the watch case or a bezel, or that it is mounted on the glass fixing ring and held thereby as described above.
However, in the mounting structure of the above rotating bezel 15, since the rotating bezel 15 is fitted by temporarily deforming it and the glass fixing ring 11, unless the materials of the rotating bezel 15 and the glass fixing ring or the watch case are carefully selected, there is caused a problem in that engagement is made impossible, or rotation of the rotating bezel is defectively performed due to damage to, deformation of an engaging portion, or generation of chips.
For example, the rotating bezel 15 has a problem that a brittle material such as ceramics, glass and the like, which have danger of breakage and a hard material such as cemented carbide and the like, which are difficult to be deformed, cannot be used as the material thereof. As a result, there is a drawback that a material cannot help being selected in a narrow range in equipment such as a wrist watch and the like which are provided with the rotating bezel and restriction also is imposed on the design thereof.
Further, even if a metal material is used in the rotating bezel 15, when pure titanium and titanium alloy are used, the following problem arises. That is, since these raw materials are viscous material, the rotating bezel 15 is plastically deformed when it is mounted, by which it is made impossible to hold the rotating bezel 15. Further, since a clearance cannot be secured in the engaging portion between the rotating bezel and the glass fixing ring or the watch case, defective rotation is caused, or when it is intended to remove the rotating bezel for repair or cleaning, it is fixedly attached to the glass fixing ring or the watch case and cannot be removed therefrom.
An object of the present invention, which was made to solve the above problems, is to provide a structure in which a rotating bezel is mounted on a case body, the structure being arranged such that even if a brittle material, a deformation difficult material, or a deformable material and the like are used in the rotating bezel, the rotating bezel can be mounted and removed without difficulty.
A measure applied by the present invention to solve the above problems is a mounting structure of a rotating bezel which is characterized in that a holding portion which has annular rotating bezel rotatably mounted on the outer surface portion of a case body and has an engaging structure for holding the rotating bezel in the case body with said holding portion capable of being elastically deformed in the radial direction of said rotating bezel as well as a clearance is formed to permit said holding portion to elastically deform in the radial direction of said rotating bezel.
According to the means, since the holding portion can be elastically deformed in the radial direction of the rotating bezel as well as the clearance for permitting the elastic deformation is formed, when the rotating bezel is engaged with the case body, the holding portion is deformed to permit the rotating bezel 25 to be directly or indirectly engaged with the case body and the holding portion is returned to its original state by elasticity in the state that the rotating bezel is directly or indirectly engaged with the case body. As a result, the rotating bezel can be easily mounted and removed, and moreover it is difficult to damage and deform the rotating bezel and the case body. Therefore, the selection of the materials of the respective parts such as the rotating bezel, the case body and the like is less restricted and a degree of flexibility in the design and decoration of the equipment including the rotating bezel can be increased.
The holding portion may be disposed to any of the case body, a different member mounted on the case body, the rotating bezel, and a different member mounted on the rotating bezel. Further, the holding portion may be disposed on both the case body side and the rotating bezel side.
It is preferable that the holding portion is composed of a different member which is directly or indirectly mounted on and fixed to the case body or the rotating bezel. The restriction in the selection of the materials of the case body and the rotating bezel can be more reduced by composing the holding portion of the different member without disposing it to the case body or the rotating bezel itself, whereby the degree of flexibility of the design and decoration of the entire equipment can be increased. In this case, the different member can be mounted and fixed in such a manner that it is jointed to the case body, the rotating bezel or a still different member mounted thereon by screwing, fixing through a fixing screw, welding, bonding and the like.
It is preferable that said holding portion includes a connecting section, which is directly or indirectly connected to the case body or to said rotating bezel, and an elastically deformable section, which extends from said connecting section along the outer surface of the case body or a different member directly or indirectly fixed to the case body or along the outer surface of said rotating bezel or a different member directly or indirectly connected to said rotating bezel in the state said clearance keeps to be secured. Since the holding portion is provided with the elastically deformable section which extends from the connecting section (which corresponds to a coupling section when it is arranged integrally with the case body, the rotating bezel or the different member and to a mounting section when it is arranged as the different member) along the outer surface of the case body, the rotating bezel or the different member in the state in which said clearance keeps to be secured, the holding portion can be sufficiently elastically deformed while suppressing the increase of the equipment in size when the rotating bezel is mounted and removed. Moreover, an amount of plastic deformation (permanent deformation) and permanent stress can be reduced by increasing the length of the elastically deformable section in a direction which intersects a deforming direction.
It is preferable that the holding portion is directly or indirectly connected to the case body or the rotating bezel also on a side opposite to the connecting section when viewed from the elastically deformable section and the elastically deformable section is supported on both sides.
The support of the elastically deformable member on both the sides prevents the plastic deformation (permanent deformation) of the elastically deformable member while permitting the rotating bezel to be easily mounted and removed and enables the holding function of the rotating bezel to be maintained.
It is preferable that the holding portion is a window holding member for holding a transparent window member which covers a display portion disposed in the cleaning member. Since the rotating bezel can be held without using a different member by the use of the window holding member as the holding portion, the size of the equipment can be reduced, the number of parts can be decreased and an assembling job can be simplified. The window holding member corresponds to a bezel and a glass fixing ring in, for example, a watch.
It is preferable that the holding portion includes the elastically deformable section between a connecting section which is directly or indirectly connected to the case body and a window holding section where the transparent window member is held. The provision of the elastically deformable section between the connecting section and the window holding section prevents the plastic deformation because the elastically deformable section is supported on both the sides as well as the size of the holding portion can be reduced and a volume occupied by the holding portion can be decreased, and further the size of the equipment can be reduced.
Further it is preferable that a watch includes the mounting structure of one of the above rotating bezels and the case body as a watch case.
Various materials, for example, ceramics, cermet, precious stone, cemented carbide and the like, which cannot be conventionally used from the view point of brittleness, a difficult-to-deform property and the like, also can be used by arranging the holding portion as the member different from the rotating bezel or forming it as a part of the case body by the above means. Further, the range of selection of the material of the case body can be widened similarly to the above by arranging the holding portion as the member different from the case body.
Further, in the above respective means, it is preferable that the clearance is larger than an amount of deformation of the engaging portion when the rotating bezel is engaged with the holding portion. In other words, it is preferable that the clearance is larger than an amount of overlap of the engaging portion (in the radial direction of the rotating bezel) of the rotating bezel and the holding portion in the state in which the rotating bezel is mounted. Further, when the holding portion is provided with each of the rotating bezel side and the case body side as well as a clearance is formed to each holding portion, it is preferable that a total of both the clearances is larger than the above amount of overlap.